“[The] Voice of America did not come through on their promise to ship the equipment and it is still in Washington, D.C.,” writes Lamonica. “We tried the Army but they can’t help either. I have asked one of our control operators who works for ABC in D.C. to see if they can help.”

The Easton, MA amateur announced plans for the remote base system in Iraq almost six months ago. W7DXX obtained the call sign YI9DXX and identified a location to house the installation. Lamonica also recruited willing Iraqi amateurs to help maintain the remote base.